Binnig, Gerd Karl (1947-…), a German physicist, helped to invent the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). This microscope can provide three-dimensional images of individual atoms. It has become an important research tool in physics, engineering, and chemistry and has played an important role in the development of miniaturized electronic circuits. Binnig was awarded the 1986 Nobel Prize for physics and shared it with the Swiss scientist Heinrich Rohrer (see Rohrer, Heinrich ).
The STM works with materials that can carry an electric current, to create an atomic map of surfaces. The STM brings its probe to within one nanometer (one billionth of a meter) of the surface being studied and creates a voltage (a difference in electrical state) between the probe and the sample. The voltage creates a tunneling electric current consisting of a flow of electrons between the probe and the sample.
The strength of the tunneling current depends on the distance between the probe and the sample. As the probe scans the sample, the STM measures the current and keeps it constant by raising or lowering the probe. A computer records the probe’s movements and uses them to create the image. The image can be up to about 100 million times as large as the sample.
Binnig was born on July 20, 1947, in Frankfurt, Germany. He graduated from the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt and, in 1978, he was awarded a Ph.D. from Frankfurt University. After his studies, he joined the staff of the International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) research laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland.
